On-chip anticancer drug screening - Recent progress in microfluidic platforms to address challenges in chemotherapy

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Oncology
• Drug Development

Background:

• Traditional animal models for anticancer drug testing often fail to predict human clinical outcomes.
• There is a growing need for advanced, cost-effective preclinical models to accelerate drug development.
• Microfluidic 'tumor-on-chip' models are emerging as a powerful in vitro tool for predicting drug screening outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in microfluidic devices for anticancer drug screening.
• To assess the progress of tumor-on-chip technology as a preclinical drug development tool.
• To explore how microfluidic platforms address challenges like drug resistance, personalized medicine, and metastasis.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature review of microfluidic tumor models published in the last five years.
• Analysis of microdevice capabilities in anticancer drug screening.
• Examination of microfluidic designs addressing chemotherapy challenges.

Main Results:

• Tumor-on-chip technology has rapidly progressed, gaining acceptance in pharmaceutical research.
• Microfluidic devices are being developed to tackle drug resistance, combinatorial therapy, and personalized medicine.
• These models show potential for improved prediction of treatment efficacy compared to animal models.

Conclusions:

• Microfluidic tumor-on-chip platforms represent a significant advancement in preclinical anticancer drug development.
• Personalized tumor-on-chip models and high-throughput platforms can potentially replace expensive and less predictive animal models.
• This technology holds promise for accelerating the development of more effective cancer therapies.